


Le Casse-Noisette

by Hayase Yuuki (yuumegari)



Series: Le Casse-Noisette [1]
Category: Digimon Adventure
Genre: Ballet, Dreams, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 06:45:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5154125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuumegari/pseuds/Hayase%20Yuuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ishida Yamato had visions of sugar plum fairies in his head since he was a young boy. Most people would not stand for it, but now, as an adult, he's saved up money to go to the ballet in Tokyo with the person he loves most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Le Casse-Noisette

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this piece of fluff last year after I had seen The Nutcracker for the first time. It was, simply, one of the loveliest things I had ever done, despite me knowing absolutely nothing about ballet. A year has passed and I now have time to pick this up and finish it in time for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Snow fell gently in Odaiba, smothering the streets with a blanket of the powdery stuff. It was the first snow of the season, and Ishida Yamato was elated. He pulled on his chunky blue scarf, wrapped himself in his olive green overcoat, and fumbled for a pair of gloves and socks as he clambered out of his room and into the hallway. With his boots laced up, he was ready to venture outside. Winter was without a doubt his favorite season for dozens of reasons. The fashion, of course, was one of them. Making wonderful food was another. There was ice skating and soaking in an _onsen_ whilst surrounded by snow and visiting his grandparents in Kanazawa. But above all, winter meant that it was another chance to see a production of _The Nutcracker_ in Tokyo.

Ever since he was little, all Yamato wanted to do during the holiday season was watch _The Nutcracker_. There were many television specials about it, of course, but he imagined that they were nothing compared to the beauty of the ballet. He would go into shops and see advertisements here and there, displaying the graceful couple of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince. He had heard accounts of classmates who had pen pals in America, and the most written-about topic was watching the Christmas ballet during the month of winter. Though his English wasn’t that good yet, he loved hearing those letters read out loud. The youth of America found words far and few in between to describe the wonders of the performance. 

_The Nutcracker is a ballet that we watch every year during Christmas. I never really know what’s going on, but it’s nice, I guess._  

_I love Christmas! My favorite part is watching The Nutcracker!_

_Since I was a little girl, I wanted to dance and be Clara for Christmas._

_What would I do if an old man magically made all my toys come to life? It would be awesome, you know? I would love that. But as a kid. Now, I don’t think I would care too much._  

There were so many letters, but even the ones that were lukewarm about the show still made Yamato’s heart beat faster. He told no one that he enjoyed listening to Tchaikovsky in his spare time. Even though the internet was available to him, he never looked up a performance, because he of all people knew that something like that was meant to be experienced live. He couldn’t explain his fascination to anyone, really; he had never even seen how ballet worked in the first place, so why would it make any sense for him to want to see a recital? For him to want to watch a performance on his own without a date was considered too odd by society. And on top of that, schoolwork was killing him.

Something always prevented him from watching the show. As a young boy, he asked his mother if he could go. “Mama, can me and Takeru go and see the Nutcracker?” he asked. He was five years old at the time. Takeru was much too young to appreciate it, but Yamato was able to convince his younger brother that the docents hand out little toys to every child that comes to watch. He wasn’t sure, of course, but it was from a snippet he had listened to during one of the pen pal exchanges.

“No, honey. I’m sorry, but mommy’s busy,” replied his mother tiredly. “I would love to take you both, of course, but…”

She had bags under her eyes. She was going through a tough time, and the kids weren’t old enough to understand what was going on.

At age ten, he asked his father. His mother and Takeru had moved away by then, but he was hoping that he would still be able to watch it with his younger brother, and possibly his father. “Dad, can we go and see the Nutcracker?” he asked again. 

But his father just laughed. “Hah! A ballet? Why? D’you have a date, Yamato? You’re a bit young for that,” he said, puffing on his cigarette and ruffling his son’s hair. “Nah, you don’t need to go to a ballet. I always thought your mom was making you too soft. That’s a girl’s thing, you know.”

Yamato said nothing. He was angry, of course, but he’d never tell his father that. He’d lost too many family members by that point. But he knew that what his father said wasn’t true at all. There was a Nutcracker Prince. He was one of the principal performers. Clearly, ballet wasn’t just for women. He tried asking again the next year, but his father now sounded tired, too. “Yamato, you’re maturing into a young man now. There is absolutely no need for you to waste money on something like a ballet until your girlfriend asks you to go. It’s that simple. You don’t just go to a ballet on your own. It’s weird.”

Annoyed at his father’s ignorance and still completely convinced that nothing was weird at all about wanting to secure such an experience, Yamato let the topic drop. Years later, even after the events in the Digital World, when his father became more accepting of things out of the ordinary, he was still not up for the idea. Eventually, Yamato stopped asking.

But this year would be different. He had secured a part-time job and was saving up money to watch it with a special person. He was basically an adult at this point, and he was allowed to make his own decisions. And damn it all, he was going to watch _The Nutcracker_ at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. On top of that, he was going to watch it with someone he loved dearly.

Of course, he hadn’t actually broken the news yet. He could see his breath as he stared as his cell phone screen, barely noticing that snow was starting to melt onto it. The name was already highlighted; all he’d have to do is hit the call button.

“Taichi, would you like to go and see the Nutcracker with me?” he asked aloud as a practice round. “So, Taichi, this thing that couples do in America is watch the Nutcracker together, and I was wondering…geez. This sounds pathetic.”

Yamato walked a couple more blocks, feeling satisfied as his boots began to make that lovely crunching noise once the snow starts to bunch up. Listlessly, he walked into a convenience store and looked for a hot drink. As he went up to pay, he saw the poster for the ballet on the wall behind the cashier. This was one of the many places that sold tickets. Unconsciously shoving his hand into his pocket and counting the bills, he realized he had brought enough to pay for two tickets. With a small smile on his face, he waited in line, ready to make a purchase of a small coffee and two tickets for the Nutcracker.

To his horror, as soon as he got to the front, the cashier had turned around to place a _Sold Out_ sign over the poster. Swallowing hard, he placed his coffee cup on the counter to pay. “Um…sorry to ask, but that means that it’s only this location that ran out of tickets, right?” he asked meekly.

The cashier looked apologetic and bowed slightly. This was a bad sign. Wordlessly, he set down some coins for the coffee and sipped it, feeling much colder.

He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t like Taichi was the one who wanted to watch the ballet, anyway. Perhaps it was a bit self-serving of him to want to watch the dancers spin around with his boyfriend. Maybe his father was right. Maybe all Taichi really wanted to do was play soccer and drink beers. Yamato was the one who was interested in art and music. He forced himself not to cry, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his midnight blue trench coat. The snow began to fall in earnest.

Adjusting his hunter green muffler, the blonde began to walk back to his cramped apartment. It didn’t take him long to get there, but then again, he couldn’t tell what time it was or how slowly or quickly he was walking. The listlessness didn’t suit him, and he knew it. He’d worked so hard to get these tickets. It would have been one thing if he didn’t put in the effort, or if he suddenly stopped caring about the ballet, or if he expected to be offered the honor of going just because he was passionate about it. But he was thwarted by something so cruelly out of his control that he found himself laughing to himself as he turned the key to his door.

It was dark inside. Taichi wasn’t home yet. _Thank goodness,_ he thought miserably. _I wouldn’t want him to see me like this._

He set the coffee down on the table, took off his boots, gloves, and coat, and proceeded to fall onto his couch and cry silently into the pillow. 

* * *

He would dream of Christmas eve and dolls and sugar plum fairies that night.

 


End file.
